Automatic car-brake



2 Shets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

J. S. STEBRETT.

AUTOMATIC GAR BRAKE.

N0. 371,799. Patented Oct. 18, 1887.

N. PETEIRS Pmmumo m hw. Waui'lington. n.c.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

. (No Model.)

J. S. STERRETT.

AUTOMATIC GAR BRAKE.

Patented Oct. 18, 1887.

N. PETERS. Pholo-Lilhngmphnn Washingwn. 01c.

JACOB S. STERRETT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC CAR-BRAKE.

QPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 371,799, dated October 18, 1887.

Application filed August 17, 1886. Serial No. 211,171. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB S. STERRETT, a citizen of theUnitcd States, and a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Oar-Brakes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the annexed drawings making part hereof.

The object of my invention is to dispense with the necessity of employing a large crew of workmen to run freight and passenger trains, and at the same time to avoid the expense incident to the use of air-brakes.

The nature of myinvention will be fully set forth in the following specification and claims.

In the drawings, Sheet 1, Figure l is a bottom plan view of my device, showing the mechanism for operating the brakes; Fig. 2, a side elevation of a truck, showing the parts of the brake mechanism operated by my device; Fig. 3, a modification of my device to be operated by my improved mechanism; Fig. 4, a broken perspective View of the end of a car-platform with its buffer; Fig. 5, a detached view showing the modification of the device shown in Fig. 1 which is necessary to operate the meclr anism shown in Fig. 3.

Sheet 2: Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the actuating mechanism, showing the means of reversing its action as the train of cars moves forward or backward; Fig. 7, a broken perspective view of a platform and dasher with the reversinglever to operate the reversing mechanism shown in Fig. 6; Fig. 8, a side elevation of a car-truck, showing the parts as operated by the mechanism shown in Fig. 6; Fig. 9, an elevation of the hanger which supports the rod to which are attached the re versing-levers; Fig. 10, a detached side eleva tion of a car buffer and coupler.

Aisthebuffer;l3,the coupler-tongue,through which the coupler-pin B (see Fig. 10) is passed.

A A are cross-heads attached rigidly to the two extremities of the buffer-bars B B.

G O O O are spiral springs. The springs G G are held on bars 13 between the cross-head A and the stationary support or hanger D, which latter is secured to the bottom of the car. The springs O C are held on said bars of the backs of the brakeshoes.

between the cross-head A and said support D. The buffer-bars B work loosely and freely through the support D.

D D are projecting logs from the support D, pierced to receive a pin to drop inside of cross-bar A. to prevent the inward movement of the latter when it is desired to back a train.

D D D are supports attached to the bottom of the car to sustain the rods beneath them; E, a rod attached rigidly to cross-head A and terminating in the crotch or are E, and is designed to convey the force of any push on the buffer to the rod F F; G, the head of a leverarm, G, which latter is pivoted to the cartruck G and to brake-beam H at G. The lower end of lever G is hinged to the connect ing brake-rod H, which passes from the brakeshoe at one end of the truck to the brake'shoe at the other end thereof, where it is similarly hinged to the short lever H. The latter lever is hinged at its upper end to the truck-frame I of the car, as shown, Fig. 2, and is pivoted at H to the brake-beam H It will thus be seen that any push against the upper end of lever-arm G will throw the lower end of the latter out, push the beam H inward,and draw the lower end of lever I inward, thus forcing in the brakebeam 11'. These two brakebeams H and H being thus driven in, will force their respective brake-shoes J J against the wheels J J.

J J are short spiral springs set between the bars K K and the upper and lower parts The bars K K are rigidly attached to the brake-beams H H, and the object of these springs is by their elasticity to graduate the shock of the closing of the brake-shoes upon the wheels. When the full force of the impact which closes the brakes is applied,these springs J will still possess sufficient elasticity to permit the wheels to revolve and make their stoppage gradual.

F F is a rod sustained from the bottom of the car by supports DD', and it is provided with a frame, F, which latter can be made of any desired form, as it is simply designed to pass around the pivot which attaches the wheel-truck to the bottom of the car. The bar F F is hinged at F to the lever K,which is pivoted to the bottom of the car at K.

The outer end of thislever is hinged at K to the rod L, which is connected to the brake rod or handle L (see Fig. 7 Sheet 2) by the chain L. By winding up the chain L .on brake-rod L the lever K will operate to draw back the rod F F and the upper end of brakelever G, thus closing the brakes.

The brake-rod L is operated in the usual way by hand and may be resorted to in drilling detached cars. WVhen a train of cars is moving forward, the slacking of speed by the engine will bring the cars together, so that each buffer A will be pushed inward, thus driving back the rod E against the upper end of lever G and pushing the latter back. The result, as above described, will close the brakes against the wheels and check or stop the train.

M M are steel bar-springs which tend to release the brakes from the wheels immediately upon the pressure on buffer A being relieved. This relief is occasioned by the forward movement of the train.

If it is desired to back a train, pins are dropped into the holes in lugs D D, as described above, whereby the buffer is prevented from being pushed inward. In backing the train when the pins are set in lugs D D the hand-brakes L are to be used in checking speed. The rod F F is hinged at F to swing with the truck and lower brake mechanism as the car moves around curves.

In the modification of my device shown in Fig. 3, Nis a lever hung from the bottom of the car by ahinged arm, N. At the lower end of this lever is a brake-bar, N, a chain, N, from the end of which passes around a pulley or roller on the bottom of brake-beam H and connects with brake-rod N", which is hinged at N" to brake-beam H Bar E is a long bar similar to bar E of Fig. 1, and is provided with the frame F", Fig. 5, to pass the pivot which attaches the truck to the car. The end of this bar E is provided with a crotch or curved end piece, E, to insure its striking lever N when pushed inward by the force of the impact of cars on the buffer. When the lever N is thus struck by the end piece, E, its lower end is thrown outward, thus drawing the brakes against the wheels through the rods N N and the chain N. In this figure (3) K is the end of the lever similarly lettered and shown in plan view in Fig. 1, and shows the handbrake attachment for operating the brakes by moving lever N when the train is backing or when detached cars are being drilled. In Sheet 2 the parts shown in Fig. 6 are substantially the same in construction as those shown in Fig. 5 of Sheet 1 from the buffer A to the support D, which in Fig. 6 is represented as sustaining rod E. This rodat its inner end is shown to be connected by a pin, 1?, to the curved link 1?. The extremities of this link are hinged to bars Q Q. The other ends of these bars are hinged to the extremities of the swinging pivoted arm R, which is loosely attached to the upright rod B.

To the lower end of rod R is secured the lever S, one end of which is secured bya lever, S,and chain S to the hand brake-rod, and the other end of this lever S is secured to one end of the rod T. The other end, T, of rod T is attached to the brake-lever T, a pull upon which from this rod T will compress the brakeshoes against the wheels, substantially as described above and illustrated in Fig. 8.

Uis alonglever pivoted at U to the bot-tom of the car. It is hinged at one end by the barU to the middle of the back of the curved link 1?. The other end, U, of this lever is hinged to the lever-arm V. (See Fig. 7.) Lever V is pivoted at V to the dasher of the car. By moving lever V laterally upon its pivot the inner end of the lever U is thrown out and in and the curved link P is shifted to the position shown in dotted lines, Fig. 6, or back to that shown in full lines.

W W are lugs which are struck by the two opposite faces of arm B when the latter is swung in one direction, but from which these arms swing free when they turn in the contrary direction. The lugs W IV are secured rigidly to upright bar or rod R by the collar W, which encircles the latter. As the swinging arm It strikes these lugs WV WV, the rod R is turned, so as operate lever S to draw the brake-rod T and close the brakes.

The operation of the device shown in Fig. 6 is as follows: The buffer A there shown is, I will suppose, the buffer at the rear of a car. As the train, after traveling backward, comes to a stop, the car-buffers, which impinged one against another, are drawn apart through the parting of the cars caused by the sudden withdrawal of the propelling force, and a pull upon each buffer A is the result. This will draw on the rod E and frame F" and pull on bar Q,thus throwing the swinging arm B into contact with the lugs W W and moving lever S in such a manner as to draw on bar T to close the brakes. The brakes will thus be instantly closed. Now, when it is desired to run the train forward and automatically close the brakes upon stoppage, the lever V is reversed from the position shown in Fig. 7 and the inner end of lever U is thrown in, thus throwing the link P over to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6 and bringing the bar Q opposite the end of rod E. As the train moves forward, the cars are drawn as far apart as their couplings will permit, and the instant the train slacks speed or the engine ceases to pull the cars will come together, and from their impact force each buffer Ainward, thus pushing the rod E and bar Q forward and swinging arm R against lugs WV Wand closing the brakes, as described before. As mentioned above, the outward draft of springs M M serves to release the pressure of the brakes upon the wheels the moment the pressure upon the buffer is released. The springs O 0 act as cushions to graduate the force or violence of the shock as the buffer. is pushed in or drawn out by the motion of the cars.

The rods B B may be called draw-bars.

IIO

My brakes are mounted in the usual way with the brake-shoes opposite the tread of the wheels. Brake beams H and H extend across from brake to brake on opposite sides of the ear. The draw-bars B B may be substituted by one heavy bar. I use two to attain the most steady movements to guard against wabbling. My buffer and coupler are in one piece or so joined together that they draw out and are pushed in together.

What I claim as new is- 1. In an automatic brake mechanism, the combination of the shifting buffer A, drawbars B B, bar or rod E, sliding link P, pinned to rod E and hinged by its extremities to bars Q Q, swinging arm R, mounted loosely upon rod R and hinged at its extremities to bars Q Q, lugs WV W, secured rigidly upon rod R, the latter actuating the lever S, which is connected by rods to the brake mechanism, and rod U, actuated by levers to shift the link P from side to side, for the purposes described, whereby the brakes may be set or closed by the forward draft of the buffer A or by its inward push, at the will of the operator, substantially as described.

2. In an automatic brake mechanism, the combination of the movable buffer A, drawbars 13 B, cross-head A, and support D, attached to the bottom of the car and provided with a projecting lug, D, which is pierced with a hole, as shown, and thus adapted to receive a pin to set behind the cross-l1ead A and check any inward push from the buffer, substantially as described.

3. In an automatic brake mechanism, the combination of the levers V, U, and U, sliding link P, and arms Q Q as a means of cans ing the brakes to be set when the draw head A receives either an outward pull or an inward push, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 10th day of August, A. D. 1886.

JACOB S. STERRETT.

Witnesses:

GEORGE E. BUOKLEY, WM. H. CARSON. 

